Hellbound
by yume girl 91
Summary: As cursed flowers, fate ties them together. Yet the nature of his love is such that he will follow her- his little Mistress even unto the depths of the land of eternal agony. AiRen loosely connected drabbles.
1. First Flame: Sweet

Sweet

The fruit was sweet, round and perfect on her tongue.

The taste a slight tart that burst into a million fragments beneath her teeth.

Her hand lowered to capture another specimen from the wicker basket at her side, her fingers closing over the tiny red globule when the faint shadow of a man leaned in the open Shoji doorway. His one visible eye took in the scene before him, a faint, almost imperceptible smile forming on his lips.

Ai glanced up, the long strands of her dark lustrous hair slipped coyly over one shoulder, her hand extended, a glimmer of red caught between two slender fingers.

Wordless she held it out to him.

"M-Mistress?"

"The cherries are pleasantly sweet today," her voice was quiet, succinct as if everything was explained in the diction of so few words.

"A-Alright." his face creased into a smile, reaching for the tiny crimson fruit.

The Hell icon on the computer screen against the wall flashed suddenly.

Ringing incessantly.

Another job had come in.

~Finis~

Disclaimer: don't own Hell girl.

Note: experimental drabbles. Hope you liked. :) Thanks for reading.

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	2. Second Flame: Still Doll

Still Doll

The bell tinkled.

Her fine child-like wrist lowered, the condemned one in the otherworld, waiting to be ferried past the gate into the land of eternal misery.

Her delicate lips purse, the action so slight no one would've caught it unless they had been studying her every second of their lives.

He catches it, but says nothing as she slips past him into the hallway. The hem of her elegant flowered-black Furisode trails, the noise a soft rustle in the quiet. Wanyuudo and Hone onna have departed for the hut beneath the red sky, being of no further use. Only he and his Mistress remain.

She because it is left to her to ferry the damned soul into Hell and he...because...

He can't move.

Light slants from the half-parted blinds, the sheen of her hair a rare blue on a sheet of darkness. _She's lovely_, it slips past his lips. Echoing quietly in the empty room like a whisper meant for the dead to hear.

Ren starts, realizing what he has said aloud but then...knows as well that he's alone.

She's left to complete the task, like the emotionless doll she is, whether or not the one who is to be ferried is guilty or innocent.

~Finis~

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	3. Third Flame: Empty

Empty

Lifelessness was reflected in her eyes.

An unending pit of despair that drew one into its unfathomable depths.

He knew because he'd seen it on the faces of the ones whom had summoned them.

Awe. Wonder. Fear.

She seemed to enjoy the last one the most.

Hone onna may scoff at this and say he's imagining things; but he knows.

He's noticed.

Maybe it's because out of them three, he watches their Mistress the most.

~Finis~

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	4. Fourth Flame: Flowers

Flowers

The spider lilies were forever in bloom there.

Red petals curving upward to the crimson sky.

They were pretty, he supposed, trailing after the shadow of his Mistress, at a respectful distance. A job had been completed and their return was together; he had made sure to wait, hands behind his back. She hadn't said a word, only walked the dusty path that wound back to the hut. Now they were near, her long sleeves dusting the stalks of the scarlet blossoms, one hand upraised to caress this petal or that petal.

At the edge of the lilies, he stopped, letting her continue a few paces ahead.

Judging it right, he called to her quietly, "Mistress."

Ai halted, her gaze straight ahead. Her silence not unusual.

Ren wished he could've seen her face, instead shaking his head slightly, he approached, bringing his fist out, "I have something for you." With that, he lightly threaded the daisy's stem through her hair. Ai tilted her chin up, observing him through wide though emotionless crimson eyes. He grinned, "there! It's something from the human world I picked up..." then, though he shouldn't have, his palm caressed the side of her face for a brief moment.

"Ai, dear!" The voice was soft, aged, belonging to her grandma.

Ren let go.

She looked away, "coming, grandma."

And began to walk up the steps.

She stopped.

Her hand rose, touching her hair, feeling the texture of the flower's delicate petals.

Then a quiet, so hushed whisper it could have been nothing but his imagination:

"Thank you, Ren."

~Finis~

Note: anytime during series. Thanks for reading :)

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	5. Fifth Flame: Eternity

Eternity

"For all eternity." she says, a vision of black amidst a vista of red. Her pale doll-like face is turned down, long silken tresses of midnight black spill over her shoulders. Hands claw, the skin rippling and melting up. Up to the darkness. Anything to escape the horrid agony of their burning bodies.

This is Hell, place of the damned and she--the one who has_ ferried_ them here, has come to offer salvation. He finds it strange that they seem to have forgotten this fact. As consequence he's pushed even farther down among the writhing bodies.

Eyes the color of the richest rubies, find his blue.

She wants him. Not them.

Out of all the nameless, faceless souls; the Hell girl has singled him out from the rest.

He feels honored.

"Soul," her voice is deep, melancholy, "do you accept?"

To serve an eternity at her side or be condemned to burn forever in the flames of Hell...?

The choice is obvious.

"Yes," Ren Ichimoku says swiftly.

Ai extends her hand above the mass of degraded humanity. "Then come."

He takes her hand and sees the light for the first time in what feels like centuries...

~Fin~

Note: pre-series. Ai and Ren's first meeting! Well, how I imagined it to be ^^ thanks for reading.

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	6. Sixth Flame: Together

Together

The sun never sets. Day after day it's the same. The sky, the grasses stirring in the breezes, the stalks of the flowers standing straight and proud. The spin of the wheel wound in deft old hands breaks the quiet and _she _sits on the steps, a small figure in a black seifuku.

He lies on his back, immobile in the form of the straw doll. Hone onna and Wanyuudo are there as well. The three of them a pair, arms extended yet not touching.

He wonders if she's bored. The machine inside has been unusually quiet, no acts of vengeance to carry out or if...she's relieved.

Her face is a blank mask, like the face of a doll. Revealing nothing of herself. That's why he's surprised to be lifted up in her hands, a soft hum leaving her lips.

Hone wants to laugh as he's made to parade around on their Mistress's lap.

_Like a child's play thing_. He feels a little miffed seeming to look ridiculous to his companions' eyes. Especially when she folds a tiny leaf and grass tip into the crown and places it on his head.

_'Awfully smart now,'_ nods Wanyuudo. His dry wit a rarity to hear.

Hone whistles a catcall. He imagines her to be winking even though it's impossible to see with her present form. However, it's their Mistress who surprises him the most.

A quiet giggle escapes the firm press of her lips, holding him out in her hands to better study his new look.

His embarrassment fades, in its place a new feeling fills him.

Satisfaction that he's made their Mistress laugh.

~Fin~

Note: anytime during series. :) yes, I plan on writing more drabbles. :) I rather like this one.

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	7. Seventh Flame: Faint

Faint

The feeling was vague at first, like all the emotions he had felt before taking his place at her side.

It only happened when he was in her presence.

When he heard her voice.

Felt her crimson eyes on him.

It was almost unseemly that he should be feeling this way toward her, but it was something he couldn't stop from occurring every time he saw her.

The faintest increase of the long-dead heart in his chest, fluttering.

~Fin~

Note: Poor Ren ;) heart palpitations. :) Thanks for reading.

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	8. Eighth Flame: Ephemeral

Ephemeral 

Human lives were short, gone in the blink of an eye.

He wondered if sometimes they regretted the vengeance wrought for their sake.

The price was high.

_When you die...your soul will also go to hell_.

Did she regret her choice?

_You will never know the joys of heaven_.

The retribution she had begged for upon those whom had made her suffer...was the price she had to pay too great?

_You will wander forever in a world of bitter torment and agony for all eternity_.

~*~

He heard her hum the song she learned long ago with a boy.

The one she had loved and the one whom had betrayed her to the leading of her demise.

His hands clenched as he stood in the shadows.

_Was it too much to ask for to be the one who soothed her pain?_

~Fin~

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	9. Ninth Flame: Reflection

Reflection

The water reflected her expression back at her. The same unchanging features, long tresses spilling over her shoulders, her leaning out over the bank, drawing the tips over the surface of the natural mirror. Ripples broke her reflection, a guarding hand lightly drew her shoulder back.

"Whoa, careful there, Mistress."

Ren's face appeared alongside hers when the water cleared. "If you lean too far out, you might fall in." He continued, smiling slightly. Ai tipped her chin up, regarding him with inscrutable eyes, "I'm not afraid. You're always around to keep me from going too far."

~Finis~

AN: Just something short. :) Thanks for reading

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	10. Tenth Flame: Distant

Distant

He couldn't reach her.

The space between them wasn't deep; he could've touched her shoulder, her hand if it had been that sort of contact he had wished for. It was the absence of feeling, emotion in her eyes when she looked at him; when she spoke to him, that kept him at a distance.

~Finis~

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	11. Eleventh Flame: Admirer

Admirer

_This feeling_.

Pressing his hand to his chest, beneath the fabric of the T-shirt, it was there. As stubborn and persistent as the annoying human women whom gawked in unseemly appreciation for his form.

_The leap and flutter of his foolish heart_.

All because a few words had fallen from **her **rosebud lips.

"You look nice." She had said, before they had parted ways for the accomplishment of the assignment.

~Finis~

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	12. Twelfth Flame: Treasure

Treasure

There were so few things worth treasuring in the crimson skied world. The water reflected the endless expanse above while the thin reeds cast shadow at the edges. The steady hum of the weaver's wheel from inside broke the quiet.

He was faintly surprised when it stopped.

"Ai, dear?" The aged voice called.

"She's not here, grandma." he responded, even though he had almost never conversed with the elderly woman before.

"Ah, Ichimoku, will you please seek her out then? I've something for her."

"Sure." he had just been looking for an excuse to search out his little Mistress. Lately Hone onna and Wanyuudo had been giving him strange looks and whispering amongst themselves. Hone with a smirk and Wanyuudo shaking his head with a faint smile.

Ren refused to fall for their baiting. He had a genuine reason for traversing the winding path that lead to the waterfall hidden in the small cove. Ever since the incident with the reporter Shibata and the regaining of some of her memories; it was one of Ai's favorite places to be.

Ren couldn't hide the smile that curved his mouth at the sight of the curtain of midnight black hair sweeping thin shoulders, crimson eyes downturned to the small pile of smoothly polished rocks at the waterside. "Found you, mistress!" he said playfully, dropping to a crouch on the other side of the rocks. Ai lifted her eyes up at his words then slowly lowered them to the pile. "Ren...will you..play with me?" her little pearly teeth caught at her bottom lip in a hesitant manner that he found instantly endearing.

"Of course! Now, what do you want us to do?" Ren wasn't good with children as a rule. Even though he still treasured the rare shy smile that Ai who was still a child had heart, gave him.

~Fin~

Note: sorry for the long wait ^^; dedicated to aiandren12 who sent me the lovely PM asking for an update! Thanks for reading!

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	13. Thirteenth Flame: Searching Glance

Searching glance

She observed the world around her. The humans going about their mundane, ordinary lives. The simple actions that fueled the hate and powerlessness that lead the poor, tortured souls to seek the Hell Correspondence. To exact the revenge they could not.

Ai didn't liken herself to the sobbing, sometimes awed souls whom she received on a daily basis. She had given up her humanity the moment she had become the Jigoku-shoujo. All kindness, tenderness, hope and...love. Yes, love in the form of her heart had been taken away by the Lord of Hell. _Make them suffer. Those who tormented me. The one who abandoned me. Sentaro_.

Ai knew she couldn't love. _Yet why did her eyes always lift to search for the form of her subordinate, IchimokuRen?_

~Fin~

AN: I tried it from Ai's p.o.v. We've only been getting Ren's, but don't worry. :) it isn't purely one-sided. Thanks for reading

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	14. Fourteenth Flame: Moonlight

Moonlight

The scent of dying lilies perfumed the air. Her crimson orbs watched the white petals dance on the water's surface. Vengeance had been fulfilled once again. Another set of human souls, the tormentor and the victim were damned. She knew she shouldn't have shed that one tear, tipping it into the face of the young girl whom was the contractor of her services.

It had mingled with those of the human's. Ai knew it made little difference. But, Hone onna and Wanyuudo had glanced worriedly to each other. They still remembered the last time her emotions had resurfaced and didn't want to lose her again to the Lord of Hell's wrath.

_But, Ren...Ren was as enigmatic to her eyes as when she had first laid ruby eyes on him_.

Ai wondered if the Tsukumogami would mourn her if she descended into the world of agony to burn for all eternity. Her thoughts drifted further along this course. The wind stirred her long raven tresses, fluttering them against the midnight black of her ornate kimono.

A quiet footfall sounded.

Then another. Autumn leaves crackled beneath his steps.

"Ren." She didn't have to glance to see whom it was that stood beside her. "Why haven't you gone back?"

"This a surprise. Why so talkative, Mistress?" he rejoined lightly. The one sheaf of hair hanging in his face, hid his eye so that only one met her two. Inscrutable as his expression was, Ai detected a note of teasing that carried far beyond the boundaries of simple Master and assistant. She hesitated at the word servant for that's all they were. _Hone onna, Wanyuudo and...Ichimokuren_.

_She wouldn't let herself hope for more._

"You never answered me, Miss Ai."The light tone was still there, but there was a slight melodic caress in the way her name rolled off his tongue. "Why so talkative all of a sudden? Do I _need_ a reason to be standing here enjoying this lovely night with you?"

_She wouldn't let herself feel again._

Ai felt his fingertips land beneath her chin, tilting her head up. Her crimson orbs focused somewhere in the distance, rose of their own accord to Ren's face bathed in shadow and diffuse light. His taller stature made him incline toward her, leaning in as if to exchange a secret. "Mistress..." his voice had dropped an octave or two lower. His breath felt warm and wonderfully alive even if it was only an illusion of life, against the dead porcelain cold of her skin. "You look beautiful tonight."

~To be continued~

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	15. Fifteenth Flame: Whispering fingertips

Whispering fingertips

"Mistress...you look beautiful tonight." The moment he spoke the words he knew there was no going back. He had spoken what he thought, what lay hidden within the deadened heart for one could not be Ai Enma's assistant and feel with a fragile human heart.

_Yet_, as he continued to gaze boldly into her small upturned face with emotionless crimson orbs staring back. _If I possess no emotion how can it be that I_...

"Ichimokuren." Her tone was cold and echoing as before.

He began to fear reprimand. "Yes..Mistress?" _Have I gone too far?_

Then, Ai did something that completely took him aback. Her slender white hand caught at his escaping fingers, clasping them closer to her cheek and hair. "Would you..." unusual hesitance clouded her liquid voice. "Mourn me if it was decreed I be condemned to Hell?"

"What do you think?" he playfully teased, gently holding her face in his hands.

Seeing the slight clouding up of her expression, Ren quickly added, "you're very precious to_ us_ all..." his thumb pad stroked the area beneath her left eye soothingly. "Myself included."

Ai seemed to absorb this for a moment. Her eyes closing slowly then reopening, the ruby red depths luminescent. "Why, Ren..?" her voice was hollow, faint. "Why am I so important to _you_?"

"Mistress, I..."

The moon became hidden by clouds, darkness crept back into the land of the living.

Ren's words were lost to all save for Ai and the great spider whose spun wed entangled all their fates.

~To be continued~

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	16. Sixteenth Flame: Storm

Storm

Not a word had passed between them since that day. Ren watched her from afar as he had always done, drinking in her gentle movements and the long raven hair that felt like the finest silk in his hands, flow in the breeze of the quiet world.

_Mistress_...his straw body rustled with each step. _Was I wrong?_

He could not read her emotions or the thoughts she concealed behind her glassy ruby-red orbs.

_Is there no future for us?_

In the doorway, he stopped his labored advance. Ai stood still, water dripping from her thin frame, drizzling to dazzle the motionless surface with thousands of ripples. Her face was tilted up to the sky, regarding the expanse of gray encroaching on silent feet.

_A storm?_

For as long as he had resided within the tiny hut and small world at the borders of Hell, he had never seen it rain. _Is this a sign?_ At once worry and bemusement assaulted him. _A sign that we're doomed?_

"Ai! Come inside, dear!" The frail voice of her grandma called from behind the thin partition. Ai said nothing, simply stepped onto the bank, water streaming from her body. Her eyes slanted down, finding his doll form. "Ren..." her intonation was soft, so soft he barely heard it fall from her lips. "Because of your answer." Her hand closed around his middle. Straw crinkled and bent under the weight of her fingertips as she lifted him up.

"I finally understand.."

_In this deadened heart of mine_.

"...how I feel..."

Lightning savaged the sky, the earth trembled with the crash.

"About you."

~To be continued~

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	17. Seventeenth Flame: Praise

-Praise -

"Ren." And a motion to draw near. The chime of the bells fade into the distance, the condemned one vanishing into the twilight of no return. This was one was harder than most. Days in which the victim chose to wait to pull the string. Ren was just glad it was over. It was slightly disturbing, how the victim's long dark hair reminded him of _her_.

Yet no one else seemed bothered.

Then, he was just glad it was _over_. Soon enough another human would beg for their grievance to be avenged. It was a never-ending cycle.

"I did well, didn't I, Mistress?" He spoke mostly to get his mind off of those things, and too, just to hear her voice if she answered. He missed it. _The sound of her voice_.

Then, again. Ai's silence was expected. Ruby-red orbs lifted to his face, then another slight motion. Ren understood, dropping to a crouch so they were eye-level. He couldn't make her speak, though he wished very much to hear the deep cadence of her voice wise beyond the fragile facade.

"You did." Ai said softly, momentarily surprising him, then there was the feather light brush of lips against his cheek.

A peck.

Fingertips reaching up, ghosting along the spot.

There were so many things he wanted to ask.

But, then she was simply gone to carry out her duty with the faintest of smiles.

-Fin-

AN: turns *pink* how long has it been since an update! \*.*/ *is embarrassed*

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	18. Eighteenth Flame: The Watcher

There is always looks. Hone's wink subtly suggestive yet supporting in her own way. Wanyuudo scowls then shakes his head. There's always orders. Seeking vengeance on behalf of those whom could not on their own.

It's their duty to follow her.

It's her duty to carry out.

Ren knows bits and pieces of the past. He has his ways as do the others though they say nothing. He doesn't ask. Because he was sure it would cause pain.

Pain bled emotion.

Emotion spoke heart.

The Lord of Hell did not approve.

A knife's edge, Ren felt. The edge of a sword they both walked. As his little Mistress's few words meant so much to him, so did they to perhaps one day condemn her.

He doesn't want that.

Watching her roll brightly colored glass marbles across the floor, ruby-red eyes fixated on the tiny orbs. He likes watching her play. There was something innocent to it despite donning a mask of placid rage to administer judgment for the wronged.

Constantly it nags at him. Every second of the flowing silk of her hair, the scent of delicate cherry blossom wafting from her milk white skin.

_What if she is condemned to Hell because she felt again?_

He shudders at the thought though the day is reasonably warm.

"Ren.." Ai calls from the waterfront.

"Coming, Ms. Ai!" He had forgotten he was going to show her how to make sailboats from leaves to race on the clear, glassy surface. As he goes down the steps, his gaze passed over a large spider..half hidden in the shadows.

A chill.

Ruby red orbs tilt up then back. Ren could swear she was pouting. Just the tiniest bit.

The spider watched.

-TBC

AN: sorry. Moi meant to do this several days ago. I already know how I want it to end... ;.; but anyway..thanks for reading!

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	19. Nineteenth Flame: Silk

-Silk-

"..cannot be." Whispered a voice that was yet not a voice. Deep in the velvet depths of slumber, Ren stirred. _Familiar_. _Why was_..

"It cannot be!" Urgency bespoke the wrath in the ringing tones.

Like a warning.

Spoken like a confidence into his ear.

Ren started violently, jerking upright from his slouched stance on the street corner. The large blue eye flickered from its half-lidded state on the opposite interior of the building wall. Hone in her disguise of a Cafe Barista, her black hair pulled back into a shiny bun, her glance darted to their intended target seated nearest the Tsukumogami's eye.

No response.

_Ren!_ she hissed angrily through their telepathic connection. _Did you fall asleep or something? Slacker! _

He didn't rise to her bait. Passing a hand through the dark fringe above his eyes, he tried to recall the particulars of the dream- vision-? It was all so strange that he of all of them, should be the receiver of..

"No," he murmured aloud. People passing by on the sidewalk, paid him no heed. Hone shot another dagger-like glance out the wide glass-paned window, out to the sunset-laden street where her comrade was. She knew instinctively his answer hadn't been for her.

_What do you mean...no? _ She questioned carefully, taking care to smile down as she served another tray of drinks. Behind the counter, the one whom had called for aid, worked steadily at the cash register. It didn't escape Hone's notice; the target's preoccupation with the young girl.

However her thoughts were diverted as Ren murmured something else.

"..The Lord of Hell."

...

It was he. The nebulous entity whom reigned supreme over the land of eternal agony. The one their Mistress answered to, whom had sealed her heart away..

Ren thought of it now with more than a shiver.

A recollection of spider webs, clinging silk-like yet unbreakable as he was trapped within them..

The voice pronouncing judgment-

-and-and...Ai.

Silvery strands of silken web contrasting against the midnight black of her hair, her solemn white little face composed almost to the point of serenity and her crimson eyes bleeding back into calm brown as she spoke-

"I...do not accept."

She was rendered mortal again.

The image persisted, always present in the back of his mind. Ren couldn't shake it, feeling his concentration slip even before Hone's voice snapped something about _paying attention_ during a mission.

_Sorry_, he thought sheepishly back, his glance was drawn to the small girl sitting at one of the tables. Ai wore a black Sailor Fuku, appearing for the world like a school girl only pausing for a mug of warm milk on a cool day. He observed covertly, keeping one eye on the target and his physical eye turned toward his little Mistress.

She seemed to take little pleasure in the steaming white drink, sipping it at intervals, her absorbed expression never changing. He wondered what she was thinking, _if she was thinking of him_. Ren's lips curved into a slight smirk.

Hone caught the drift of his thoughts and made a face from over the brewer.

_Get a hold of yourself! A woman's thoughts don't constantly revolve around you!_

He deflated somewhat seeing as Ai's gaze never drifted once to his direction.

_Aww..that's cold, Mistress_...

The ruby red eyes flickered his way, her voice echoing as clearly in his mind were they not a space apart.

_Behave yourself, Ren_.

The grin came back full force after a moment. Which he hid behind his cup, in the pretence of taking a sip; Hone's chiding eye was on him again.

He didn't care though.

He had gotten her to do something.

The tiniest thing really.

A faint smile was noticeable on his Mistress's face as she continued drinking her milk.

-TBC

AN: sorry for not updating sooner. *my bad*

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	20. Twentieth Flame: Spider's web

-Spider's web-

He had the same dream.

The darkness swirled like mist around his legs, an unearthly chill seeping in to brush tendrils against his skin. Ren shivered, unused to the cold. _He hadn't felt it so_...

_All-pervading._

_Like loneliness_ _for centuries_.

"Hey, Hone, Wanyuudo?" He called into the inky blackness. "Where are you guys?"

He tried to ignore the crawling sensation in his stomach, a tightening of nerves, a vise around his heart. Human emotions were becoming defined, overwhelming. Fear was tart on his tongue as he drew in air to call out again.

Then, didn't.

Someone called from the distance.

Faintly.

His heart fluttered at the voice, for he knew it. "Mistress Ai!" Hope arose, surely she would know what was going on. Ren followed the sound of her voice, running through the darkness until a faint illumination mingled with the mist.

Spider's web stretched from an unknown vista across and above, striating the shadow with pale, fine strands of silk. Ren stopped just short of becoming entangled in the great web, his eye searched out the tiny form of his raven-haired Mistress even as her delicate countenance lifted.

She wore a plain black kimono bereft of the colorful hued flowers, her hair hung around her face, framing the milky whiteness of her skin. Her large crimson eyes gazed at him neither reproachfully nor with feeling.

"Mistress.." he murmured, taking a step closer to the web, desiring to free her from the entrapment.

"Do not..." Ai began quietly, her eyes at once steady on him, then brimming with sadness as he stretched a hand out to the first of the intricate knots of the webbing. "It is my punishment alone."

He didn't understand, "why? What is this place? Why aren't Hone Onna and Wanyuudo here as well?"

The briefest flickers of pain passed over Ai's face. "Because." Her eyes closed. "They were not a part of this. They are...not _you_."

The words seemed an admittance.

A cause and confession that broke upon the quiet darkness like an influx of light.

Clarity suffused Ren's face as well as horror. "You can't mean that- you- I..."

_**I did this**_.

"I-" _made her_...

Another voice spoke. One from the greater darkness, one that filled with him with utmost terror.

"The covenant has been broken."

It was the Lord of Hell. The spider whom spun their fate, like the snake that tempted Eve so the spider poisoned the promise of vengeance.

_The promise Ai had made_...

"The Hellgirl has allowed her emotions to influence her."

"..no." Ren found his voice.

The spider continued in a tone of harsh severity. "She must be-"

"No!" He knew what was coming. Strands of the clinging silk snaked out, wrapping about his arms and legs restricting his movements, binding him to the web far from Ai. He struggled, swearing under his breath, yet stopped as the spider finally addressed him.

"Tsukumogami, do you desire to accept punishment in place of the Hellgirl?"

There it was.

The one thing Sentaro Shibata had failed with.

Had denied the one who loved him most.

Ren stared back at the hideous form of the Lord of Hell, defiance burning in his single good blue eye.

He was not Sentaro.

"I-"

-TBC-

AN: a big thank you to my three reviewers! :)

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	21. Twentyfirst Flame: Blood and Flowers

-Blood and Flowers-

"-en. Ren!"

The smoky female voice raised in tone, hovered worriedly above him. Little by little, awareness came back. He was lying on something hard, and- and, _that scent_. His eyes opened, an involuntary grunt escaped his lips.

"M-Mistress-!"

Ai knelt in the grimy alleyway, her large eyes fixated on his face.

Yet she did not speak.

Ren was vaguely aware of Hone's apprehensive looks, her disguise of a Cafe Barista momentarily discarded along with materiality to the human eye.

"What happened to you?" Hone demanded after a long moment had passed. "You started yelling with your eye shut and almost blew our-"

He ignored her, "Mistress-" his heart sank. Ai had risen without a word, her steps echoing in the cold silence, then abruptly halted, listening intently to only something she could hear.

"The contract..."

Something slipped past her pale emotionless mask.

She vanished suddenly moments before Hone was going to inquire on her meaning. Then just as Ren climbed up to his feet, shaking nonexistent dirt from his sweater, he froze. They both heard it as Ai's bell tinkled, felt it, as the dimensional portal absorbed their target to the world of grey skies and river.

"She's ferrying him to Hell."

...

In another dingy alley lit intermittently by street lights, they found Wanyuudo trampled on in the gutter. As Hone rescued him, Ren continued on, trying to make sense of everything. _Why had Ai taken off so suddenly? Why hadn't they moved first to give the perpetrator a taste of his own medicine?_

_Nothing made sense_- something caught his eye. The tip of a pale pink shoe sticking out from a dumpster. He hurried around and stopped and stared. The contractee was dead. Curls of auburn framed her doll-like face, the sweater she wore over the Barista uniform was splotched a sickly crimson from the mortal wound dealt to her heart. Hone jogged up with Wanyuudo at her heels.

The three of them gazed down at the body.

"I told you that girl pulled the string only halfway before he lunged at her. Tossed me aside!" grumbled the old man. Neither of the younger assistants of the Hell girl were listening. Hone at length, lowered her sleeve from her mouth, "this girl...was dead before the contract was fulfilled."

"What does that mean?" Always considering himself to be the quicker out of them all, Ren hesitated to even surmise the consequences of their Mistress's actions. _Did she ferry that guy to Hell simply 'cause...he killed the girl he supposedly loved?_

_Did Ai take ...revenge for the girl? _ As the last thought passed through his mind, the sound of many legs scuttling over a concrete surface echoed. They all turned as a huge red spider appeared from the darkness of the alleyway...

...

The oar swished through the water, Ai's gaze was fixated ahead on the distant Torii gate. The actions were the same. _Monotonous_. The man lay on his back at the bottom of the boat, his clothing soaked with blood. Ai let her senses drift, the scent of decaying flowers mingled with the coppery sharp scent of blood.

She did not think of what she had broken; nothing disturbed her impassive countenance. Not when the spider's web strung fine thread and bound her hands from dipping the oars. The boat tip was only inches away from passing through the gate.

"Hell girl, this human is not bound anymore by the threads of the contract. His sin is for mortal eyes alone." The voice echoed from above and all around.

"He is worthy of Hell." Ai gazed forward to the barren, ashen land ahead.

"That is not for you to decide. Release him."

"This is _vengeance_." She insisted quietly.

The webs broke and she continued through the gate, the boat vanished into the blackness as the spider's voice rang ominously throughout the decayed land.

"Then, your heart has returned. Never more shall you leave this place, Ai Enma."

-TBC

AN: finally an update! -.-; sorry for taking so long!

No flames!

Reviews loved :)


	22. Twentysecond Flame: Falling Blossoms

Five days.

Ren sat on the small step, gazing out over the tiny body of water past to the eternal sunset sky.

"The Hell girl is no longer. Await the arrival of your new mistress." The spider had said. Hone and Wanyuudo had felt the uneasiness sweep them like a miasmic curl of malice from the many-eyed spider. Only he had been the one to step forward, demanding with the impetuousness of youth.

"Where's Ai? What have you done to her?"

The Lord of Hell had clicked pincers, a soft chattering sound issuing forth. Ren's skin crawled but he didn't dare back down. "Answer me!" He said roughly, insistently.

The spider had given an almost human-like noise of scorn then.

"I? Think, Tsukumogami...you are the answer."

Ren had covered his face with hands and didn't see Hone's rustling approach. "You look bored somehow. I suppose our new orders will come when a new Hell girl is chosen."

"Mistress Ai is still the Hellgirl." He mumbled quietly, stubbornly, feeling her gaze search his bent back.

"Ren, she's...gone. None of us can sense her anymore and -"

"What?" He snapped, very aware that his eye was red, that there was moisture on his hands. "Mistress Ai's in Hell? Is that what you were going to say?"

Taken aback, Hone's glance slanted away almost guiltily. "We have to face the possibility that we may..._never_ see Mistress Ai again."

There it was. The one truth Ren had been denying constantly to himself from the beginning of the torturous wait. Avoiding the eyes of the woman when he arose, Ren stepped around her going to the path meandering away from the tiny hut beside the lake.

"Where are you going?" She called after him, unsure of his actions. He had never been the most patient out of all of them so his next words didn't startle her as much as they should've.

"I'm going to find Ms. Ai."

"Ren, are you sure-"

"I'm not-not just gonna give up on her!" He said in a burst of pent-up anger. Hone made a move to go after his quick stride but Wanyuudo's aged voice came from inside.

"Let him be."

"But-!" she fretted, looking from the bamboo rush doorhang to the rapidly disappearing form of the Tsukumogami.

"Whatever happens was meant to happen. You know this is the fate the spider wove for them."

* * *

_Ai-Ai! Where are you? _

True to the bone woman's word, no matter how he probed their connection, he could pick up nothing to point out her whereabouts. His own limitations were frustrating as he strode along the curving path, slightly regretting his hostility to Hone.

_It wasn't her fault- but neither was her acceptance of Ai's disappearance!_ Anger rose up again in his chest. He was sure she was somewhere...somewhere where no one could reach her...trapped perhaps...trapped in a spider's-

Something feather light glided down in front of him.

Momentarily taken from his thoughts, Ren's fist shot out capturing the tiny pink petal in the palm of his hand. _A sakura petal? _ His gaze slowly lifted to the place where he had absently wandered to. The dried waterfall and the large dead tree above. Except...the tree wasn't frozen anymore. It was blooming fully, covered in ethereal pink petals wafting down in elegant spirals in the windless atmosphere.

A chill swept through him.

The scene was familiar...it was the same as when Ai had regained her memories of her human death and of Sentaro's betrayal. That was the same time when she had...disappeared. Ren walked forward into the shower of blossoms, remembering the same desperation and pain he had felt when she had vanished, doomed to Hell for her vengeful heart. How he had cried out for her in vain when the tree had swallowed her up.

"Did I...really..condemn you to Hell, Ai?" The thought tore something inside. In all the centuries of serving her, coming to feel emotion for her beyond the bounds of gratitude, Ren knew he had never meant this. _Never wanted this_. Not for her to be snatched away into the pit for awakening even the tiniest sensation of feeling in her deadened heart.

In the midst of his misery, the sound of clicking pincers echoed faintly. A familiar sense of malice darkened the purity of the blossoms. Ren's skin crawled once more as he lowered his gaze to the large red-eyed spider suspended from a silken thread off the tree.

"Tsukumogami, do you wish to see Ai Enma once more?"

Every sense in his body did not want to approach the malefic being of torment yet for his heart, the feeling overwhelmed even his repulsion of the creature.

"Yes." Ren answered firmly, his own blue eye fixated on the spider's many ones.

A chattering sound like a mild laugh.

"Then come. Descend to Hell with me."

-TBC

AN: thanks for reading!

No flames!

Reviews loved! :)


	23. Twentythird Flame: Coil of Mortality

"What is this place?" Ren's voice bounced and echoed in the seemingly unfathomable cavern. He couldn't see a floor nor walls encasing them in any sort of structure yet the spider scuttled on.

"Another level of my domain," The spider answered after a moment. "There is a special place for breakers of my coda like Ai Enma."

He didn't like the sound of that nor the feel of the place as they descended further in. He began to regret waiting those days when Ai had been alone in Hell. Though he could feel no walls, no hindrance, there was a cloying, claustrophobic sensation pressing against his arms and legs. Ren absently brushed at the sleeve of his sweater, finding silken strands clinging to his fingertips. "What the heck-?" His eye widened, glancing sharply to the spider, he found it had vanished into the darkness.

"Hey! Hey, what is this? Where is she?" He called, attempting to move forward but suddenly finding himself incapable of it as his legs lifted, arms spreading apart. Ren thrashed weakly, becoming even more entangled in the sticky threads. His ascent halted an interminable distance height upward, the peculiar clicking sounds of pincers getting louder from the left side. Ren turned as best he could, staring the many-eyed creature in the face.

A shudder rippled through him.

His image was reflected in all its eyes.

"Look across, Tsukumogami." The spider intoned. With effort, he turned from it to far across the void where a tiny figure hung suspended from many silken strands of web. She wore a white yukata, feet bare, dark luxurious strands of hair streaming down her shoulders, framing her pale white face when her chin lifted.

"..Ren?" There was recognition in her ruby-red eyes.

"Mistress Ai!" He called frantically, the soft sound of amusement from the spider sending chills to dance across his skin. "I-I'm sorry! I..." _never meant for any of this to happen_. Liquid glistened, trickling down his cheek tentative like a feathery touch.

"Don't be." Ai's calm, deep voice filled with wisdom beyond her outer facade of childish youth silenced him. "It was my...choice to never shut you out."

"Ai..."

"I accept my punishment." She called softly, resolutely. "Merely I ask for his return to the mortal world."

"No! You-you're condemning yourself to Hell! I won't let that happen! You can't decide this on your own!"

The spider chuckled, pincers clicking eerily. "Precisely. What was the reason, Tsukumogami, that I brought you here? That I warned you for days past of the consequences of your...unusual attachment to the Hell girl?"

He was stunned, "it-it was you? You were the one who made me dream those things?"

"Of course. Did you not realize the crack in Ai Enma's sealed up emotions was because of you? The fissure began with her remembrance of rage directed toward the descendants of Shibata. I'm sure you recall that time and the mess that resulted...after that I kept tighter watch over the Hell girl, only to find you...the soul of a sword had committed the unforgivable. To love the instrument of Hell's vengeance is a sin beyond comprehension."

He grinned because there wasn't anything else left. "That bad, huh?"

"For that," the spider ignored his levity. "Ai Enma desires to go to Hell in your stead."

Ren paled, his grin dipped.

"But, you...you can choose instead to go in _her_ place. Anything of what she feels for you, erased forever along with memory...that way she will live on for eternity as a perfect, emotionless doll while you on the other hand will burn forever. What say you, Tsukumogami, Ai Enma?"

He thought of the countless visions shown to the contractees, of the boiling pits themselves and clawing, grasping hands begging for redemption. Ren looked across to the perfect, pale face of the Hell girl caught between adolescence and adulthood and knew deep down that for all his selfishness, he could not let her take that fall.

_Sentaro had and shattered her soul._

_But there was no comparison between he and her first love whom had betrayed her._

_If it'll save her- then, I must...!_

"I accept your-"

"No, Ren. I forbid it." Her voice with such quiet force halted him like before. The spider's laugh echoed all around them. "Such a grandiose tragedy! Lovers willing to sacrifice for the other!"

Ren shot a glare at it, hating the hideous thing even more for playing with souls.

Suddenly the fine strands of silk tautened then slackened, his feet shot out arms flailing uselessly.

Its tone changed. "Perhaps, there is one offer...mortality and in the bargain the souls of Ai Enma and you, Ren Ichimoku to descend to Hell. One cannot be condemned without the other...so shall we say...the question is, can you have the joy of happiness in your heart even knowing once you die your soul will never know the joys of Heaven?"

He fell fast, unable to grasp at the darkness.

Far, far away, Ai's large crimson eyes followed him.

_As long as I'm with you_.

_Then_...

"Yes."

There can be.

The spider released her.

The crimson red of her eyes bled to light brown. Ren opened his arms, catching her spiraling downward body heavily. She was so slight, so frail, clutching onto his jacket, burying her raven head in his chest.

The Lord of Hell's voice raised in condemnation all around them.

"A new Hell girl has been chosen. For the period of Ai Enma's lifespan, I release her as well as you."

The world around them lightened to ashen grey.

"We will not meet again...until your entrance to this land of agony where you will then stay for all eternity."

Sinister laughter followed them but he shut his hearing to it and grasped the tiny human in his arms.

"You're no longer the Hell girl, Ai." He kissed the top of her head. "You're mortal again as I never was."

...

12:00 AM.

Across Japan in a room wrapped in shadow, Yuzuki Mikage stared at her computer screen until her eyes blurred.

12:01 AM.

The web page flickered, a message in red type spilling across the bottom. _Was that normal? What it said? _

"Invitation to...Hell?" She murmured, a cool chill dancing across her skin. Suddenly Yuzuki realized she was no longer alone and turned to the far corner of her room where a woman in a kimono and an old man stepped forward.

Hone onna smiled, extending her hand. "So, you are our new Mistress."

-TBC

AN: thanks for reading! :)

No flames!

Reviews loved :)


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